A few weeks ago, I had an outage. The following outlines the countless lies and deceptive behaviors they engaged in during the process.
1. They claimed my personal modem (NetGear Nighthawk CM2500, a DOCSIS 3.1 modem capable of of 2Gb speeds) was actually a Nighhawk C7000, a DOCSIS 3.0 modem which would not work on their network. Tech told me I was mistaken while I was reading the model number directly off the modem itself. Tech also read me back an incorrect MAC address. Note that they necessarily had the correct information, as I'd had service for 3 years prior to that point. The modem in question was less than 2 years old, and it suddenly stopped working entirely during one of their tests. I later discovered that it had experienced a short at the cable port on the board. (In 2017, Comcast patented a method of testing modems that involves sending a high-voltage signal over the connection from the hub, just so it is clear that this is not idle speculation on my part; they damaged my property.)
2. After their tech was completely incapable of getting my service restored and I reluctantly agreed to use one of their modems, they claimed there would be no rental charge for it. They would later tack a $7.50 rental charge on my next bill.
3. When they shipped me their modem, they claimed to have sent it overnight. It arrived a week later (a week without internet which they refused to pro-rate my bill over) with a label indicating standard shipping.
4. When the modem they sent proved to be defective, they offered to send a tech out with a replacement modem the next day. Repeatedly assured me there would be no charge. Later billed me $150 for the service call. It is worth noting that, while troubleshooting the first modem, I took a photo of the label on their modem, showing the default password and the MAC address.
5. The service call was scheduled for the next day. It took 2 days for the tech to arrive. Tech replaced the modem, and the new one worked.
6. When I disputed the service call charge, they told me they had no choice but to charge me, since all the tech did was standard setup (also insultingly implying that I, an IT professional, have no ability to set up a cable modem *while on the phone with their tech support*), and there were no hardware issues. The new modem had a different MAC address and default password than the one I'd taken a photo of, but the rep repeatedly insisted that the only thing the tech had done was standard setup.
7. During that call, the rep claimed to have filed a ticket on my behalf to dispute the charge. The next day, their website claimed I had no support or billing tickets open.
8. Called again, got a rep to file a ticket (because they can't refund me or alter my bill on their own, a truly idiotic policy) and confirmed that one was made on the website. Ticket was closed the next day with no notice to me and no result I could check. Several weeks later, I am hit with a $165 (not a $150) charge on my payment method.
9. I purchased and paid for gigabit internet. They have only ever provided 100Mbit internet. When I called tech support, they claimed the modem was receiving 1Gbit. I checked myself; it was maxing out at 97.8Mbit and averaging 89.1Mbit. Tech insists that the 802.11ax wifi served by the modem was the problem, despite 802.11ax being capable of speeds in excess of 800Mbit. I explained that my computers are connected by CAT6 ethernet cables which are less than a year old. Tech continued to insist I was connected via wifi. My computer does not even have a wifi adapter.
10 I was pawned off on an AI chatbot at every opportunity. Trying to engage with this was excruciating; the chat would randomly time me out, claiming I had been idle for too long (often mere seconds after I sent a message), each new 'representative' proved entirely ignorant of the chat log's history, despite it all being there on my end (meaning it was stored on their end), and they repeatedly lied about filing tickets (giving me ticket numbers that weren't even in the correct format half the time and which didn't exist even when they were) and promising to remove charges, pro-rate my bill and give me credit as compensation for the problems they had created.
I am reporting this to the FCC, albeit with little hope of the agency doing anything over it. I have already ordered AT&T internet, and I will be cancelling Xfinity service the moment that is running. Conveniently, the AT&T service is $10 a month cheaper, and I know from experience that it will provide the speeds they claim, and will fix problems and pro-rate bills over outages.
I cannot stress enough how much this company deserves to go bankrupt. read more